Media and artists can cross the border, but not all: when refusal is possible
6 March 2025 14:35
The government has updated the rules for crossing the state border by Ukrainian citizens and allowed people working in the fields of culture, strategic communications, media and information to travel abroad. The State Border Guard Service reminded about this, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
At the same time, the SBGS warned that men aged 18 to 60 will be able to travel abroad only if they comply with the rules for crossing the state border and have supporting documents:
– a letter from the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications or the Ministry of Digital Transformation to the Administration of the State Border Guard Service regarding the details of the trip;
– an invitation from a foreign organization (with translation into Ukrainian);
– a military registration document with the relevant marks of the territorial centers of recruitment and social support or a military registration document in electronic form.
The State Border Guard Service emphasized that if the purpose of the trip is not confirmed, the travel will be denied.
They also reminded that the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications and the Ministry of Digital Transformation consider applications only if all requirements are met, and letters to the State Border Guard Service Administration are not provided in case of inconsistencies in the submitted documents.
As a reminder, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Resolution “On Amendments to the Rules for Crossing the State Border by Citizens of Ukraine”, which creates legal grounds for temporary departure from Ukraine of men of military age engaged in professional activities in the field of culture, cinematography, strategic communications, media and information.
The Resolution defines the categories of specialists, the procedure for obtaining a letter of assistance, the list of documents, the duration of stay abroad, etc. It also introduces an expanded list of authorities authorized to review documents submitted by institutions. Clear requirements for meeting the criteria for obtaining a letter of support from the Ministry of Culture have been defined.
It is stipulated that the maximum period of stay of artists and media professionals abroad is no more than 60 calendar days from the date of crossing the state border. The period of continuous stay abroad may be extended to 30 calendar days upon receipt of a separate letter of approval.
How media professionals assess the changes in the rules
While the issuance of letters of assistance has been a political decision for which the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications was directly responsible, from now on, the institutions to which employees belong will share responsibility with the Ministry for who is allowed to travel abroad. This was noted by the specialized publication Detector Media.
According to the publication, from now on, all applications for permission to travel abroad should be sent to the administrations of specialized institutions (for example, the State Film Agency, if it concerns film professionals, the Ukrainian Book Institute, if it concerns the book industry). In the future, the specialized institutions will process the applications themselves, check the submitted documents and send them to the Ministry of Culture on their own.
In Detector Media’s opinion, it is somewhat surprising that, given the increased responsibility of specialized institutions, letters of support will still be signed exclusively by the Minister of Culture or the acting Minister.
The new rules also clearly set out the lists of documents required to obtain letters of assistance for traveling abroad: the main ones are an invitation from the receiving party and a military registration document. But there are additional ones for different categories. For example, cultural institutions that are managed by the Ministry of Culture and carry out activities in the field of cultural heritage protection, as well as individual entrepreneurs, can apply to the Ministry for letters of assistance directly. But, for example, individual entrepreneurs must additionally provide an extract from the Unified State Register, as well as documents confirming that they have been conducting cultural or media activities for a certain period of time.
The publication also draws attention to the fact that some categories of institutions, such as NGOs or small independent media that are not critical infrastructure institutions, will apparently not be able to apply for letters of assistance from the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications at all.
The rules of departure have been revised due to the facts of non-return of people from abroad
On March 3, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications suspended the issuance of letters of assistance for the travel of conscripted cultural workers and media representatives abroad.
The reason for the suspension was the numerous cases when persons who had received permission from the State Border Guard Service to temporarily travel abroad under a letter of assistance from the Ministry did not return to Ukraine within the established time frame.
How many cases of non-returns from abroad were recorded
From January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine received 4,047 requests for letters of assistance in crossing the border. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine received 2744 letters regarding the facilitation of border crossing. These data are contained in the response of the Ministry of Culture to a request from Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the State Border Guard Service’s data for 2024, 579 figures did not return for a letter of assistance from the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine.
